Conventional wireless telecommunications systems are composed of several distinct pieces of interconnected equipment, each carrying out various functions. For instance, a conventional wireless telecommunications system, designed pursuant to the current Global System for Mobile Communications (abbreviated GSM) standard, includes (a) a base station controller component, (b) multiple base transceiver stations, (c) a mobile switching center, (d) a visitor location register (sometimes integrated with the mobile switching center), (e) a home location register, (f) an authentication center, (g) an operation maintenance center radio component for configuring the base station controller and (h) an operation maintenance center switching component for configuring the home location register and/or the mobile switching center. The costs associated with the manufacture and maintenance of such equipment, and the connections between such equipment, is relatively high. Furthermore, the complexity of the system is increased by providing for distinct components. Moreover, significant expenditures of time and resources are incurred in redesigning such components and equipment given the interdependence among such components and equipment. As a result, the ability to redesign such equipment or add elements is severely limited.
Separation of components of a wireless telecommunications system presents numerous disadvantages. For example, consider a base station controller and a mobile switching center of a conventional GSM telecommunications system. Conventionally, the base station controller is remotely located with respect to the mobile switching center, and telecommunications lines are used to connect the base station controller with the mobile switching center. In some cases, the radio controller and the mobile switching center may be separated by a considerable distance, known as the back-haul, which requires considerable installation and maintenance efforts. Voice, data, control and connection related information are passed over the telecommunications lines from the base station controller to and from the mobile switching center. One protocol is typically used to communicate between the base station controller and its associated subscriber units (such as, a link level protocol) while another protocol is used to communicate between the base station controller and the mobile switching center (such as, a SS7 protocol). Typically, multiple SS7 links connect the base station controller and mobile switching center. The base station controller and its associated equipment carry out various procedures with respect to the information received from subscriber units over radio channels, such as transcoding and rate adaption functions. Performance of such functions by equipment associated with the base station controller requires the use of additional overhead to supply control information to the mobile switching center, and thus undesirably increases the complexity of the communications with the mobile switching center.
Several significant disadvantages are thus encountered by conventional wireless telecommunications systems. What is therefore needed is a telecommunications system that integrates together components and their associated functionality, which are presently distributed among a series of distinct equipment, to overcome such disadvantages.